Comparison

Star Traders vs Gladiabots

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Star Traders

Command your own starship and crew in a vast, procedurally generated open universe. Forge your path as a pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, or explorer, influencing factions and shaping your crew through your choices in this epic sci-fi RPG.

Highlights
  • Open universe exploration
  • Multiple captain careers (26 jobs)
  • Spaceship customization (350+ upgrades)
  • Crew assembly and talent management
  • Dynamic narrative and faction influence
  • Crew molding based on player choices
  • Varied difficulty options including permadeath
Features
Read full description

You are the captain of a starship venturing through a massive open universe. Customize your crew and take command at the helm of your very own ship as you explore a galaxy torn apart by internal strife, alien threats, and political intrigue. Command your ship and crew as a space pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more in Star Traders: Frontiers – an epic space RPG from Trese Brothers Games. Venture forth into a massive open universe, rich with adventure and the lore of the Star Traders. Choose your path by assembling and commanding your custom crew and spaceship in a constantly evolving galaxy torn by internal strife, political intrigue, and alien threats. Will you fly as a pirate terrorizing shipping lanes, join the solar wars as a military captain, or track targets across the stars as a fearsome bounty hunter? - Explore a rich, open universe: Discover endless procedurally-generated galactic maps, meet unique characters, and take on enemies to conquer the galaxy! - Become an intergalactic captain: Take on the role of a spy, smuggler, explorer, pirate, merchant, bounty hunter, and more (26 jobs total)! - Customize your own spaceship: Choose from more than 350 upgrades and 45 ship hulls to build your very own vessel to venture across the vast reaches of space. - Assemble and tailor a loyal crew: Assign talents and equip specialized gear for every spaceship crew member. - Experience an ever-changing narrative: Decide to make friends or foes with other factions and influence political, economic, and personal vendettas. - Mold the crew by your choices: As you make decisions and set the tone for your ship, your crew will grow and change to match. Destroy enemy ships with all hands on deck and your crew will become more bloodthirsty and savage. Explore distant worlds and loot dangerous wastelands and your crew will become intrepid and clever ... or scarred and half-mad. - Varied Difficulty Options! play with save slots to try out different builds or storylines or turn on character permadeath and enjoy classic roguelike experience - Achievement Unlocks: accomplish story and challenge goals to unlock additional optional (but not better) content like new starting ships and new starting contacts First there was the Exodus – when survivors of a great war left the ruins of the Galactic Core behind in search of a new home in the stars. Scattered worlds were claimed on the fringe of the galaxy. Each pocket of survivors held on to an isolated set of worlds while trying to rebuild under the great law of Shalun. Three centuries later, technology has brought them back together again. Discovery of the hyperwarp has bridged what was once an unimaginable distance between far-flung colonies, long-lost families, and political factions. With that reunification has come great economic prosperity. The hyperwarp reestablished the transportation of cargo, goods, and technologies between the quadrants – but it has also brought great strife. Political rivalries have been rekindled, blood has been shed in age-old feuds, and the fires of war have been stoked. Amidst the political infighting, a ruthless revolution is rising – and the fervent explorers of the hyperwarp have awoken something that was better left asleep. Our very first game, Star Traders RPG, took hundreds of thousands of gamers on an interstellar adventure. Star Traders’ success and overwhelmingly positive reception helped to launch Trese Brothers Games. It was the adventures of our community’s star-crossed captains that put us on a trajectory to share more of our worlds, ideas, and dreams. We set out to capture the loneliness, bravery, and camaraderie of people living together in a spaceship sailing across the stars. It is with great pride that after releasing four other games in the Star Traders universe, we’ve created a sequel to the original Star Traders RPG. Step onto the bridge of your starship, take to the stars, and create your own story in Star Traders: Frontiers.

About

Gladiabots

Design the AI for your robot squad and deploy them in strategic combat. Refine your tactics through a single-player campaign and online multiplayer modes. Customize your robots and compete in various game modes without ads or pay-to-win mechanics.

Highlights
  • Create and program robot AI
  • Customize robot crew
  • Single player campaign
  • Online multiplayer modes
  • Multiple game modes
  • Tournament creation
  • Asynchronous multiplayer
Features
Read full description

Gladiabots is a robot combat strategy game in which you carefully construct the AI of your robot squad and send them into the battle arena. Improve, refine and repeat until you outsmart all your opponents and friends online. Features: - Create your own AI and watch your robots execute it in the arena - Fix it, improve it and repeat it until you outsmart all your opponents - Simple and powerful AI programming system offering millions of possible combinations (with no programming skills required) - Create and customize your robot crew - Single player campaign with hundreds of solo missions - Online multiplayer career mode featuring, ranked, unranked and private matches - 3 distinctly different game modes: elimination, domination and collection - Create and compete in tournaments - Asynchronous multiplayer - battle friends even if they are not online - Sandbox mode in which you control both teams to test your tactics - Rank up and earn points to unlock new robot skins IMPORTANT NOTE This game doesn't have any ads and is NOT pay-to-win! The in-app purchases allow you to buy in-game credits that you can use to unlock new skins for your robots. They are optional, purely cosmetic and don't give any gameplay advantages.

Screenshots

Star Traders4 screens
Gladiabots4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Star Traders at none against Gladiabots's 5. Star Traders also leads on chart position (#31 vs unranked) and ratings volume (673 vs 90). Gladiabots's advantage is review sentiment (87% vs 73%) and price ($3.99 vs $6.99). On rating, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Star Traders costs $6.99 and Gladiabots $3.99 up front. Gladiabots sells 5 one-off in-app purchases. Star Traders asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.6 for Star Traders against 4.5 for Gladiabots. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Star Traders has 673 ratings behind it against 90, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews are what separate them: 73% of Star Traders's written reviews are positive against 87% of Gladiabots's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Star Traders ships an update every 3 weeks, Gladiabots every 2 weeks. Both last shipped on October 25, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Star Traders versus Gladiabots: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterStar TradersGladiabots
Price$6.99$3.99 — better
Rating4.6 (673 ratings) — better4.5 (90 ratings)
Positive reviews72.9% of reviews87.2% of reviews — better
Number of ratings673 — better90
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 2 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationPaidFree with in-app purchases — better
Best chart rank#31 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPodiPhone, iPad, iPod
Requires iOS12.19.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size316 MB182 MB
Age rating12+17+
DeveloperTrese BrothersSebastien Dubois

Customer experience

Star Traders

All ratings668 ratings
Positive88.8%
Neutral2.7%
Negative8.5%
Written reviews221 reviews
Positive72.9%
Neutral6.8%
Negative20.4%

Gladiabots

All ratings90 ratings
Positive86.7%
Neutral2.2%
Negative11.1%
Written reviews94 reviews
Positive87.2%
Neutral4.3%
Negative8.5%

User reviews

Star Traders

From 673 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🌟 Impressive depth and complexity
  • 🌍 Vast open-world with endless possibilities
  • 🔍 Engaging story and lore
  • 🤖 Diverse gameplay options (trading, exploration, combat, etc.)
  • 🕹️ Satisfying ship and crew management

Room to improve

  • 🤔 Steep learning curve, lacks clear tutorials
  • 🔍 Repetitive or tedious aspects in late game
  • 📱 UI/UX issues on smaller mobile devices
  • 🎲 Frustrating RNG elements and difficulty spikes
  • 🔒 Lack of cloud save functionality

Gladiabots

From 90 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 💡 Innovative programming concept
  • 🧠 Great for learning logic/programming
  • 👍 Satisfying to see AI work
  • 🚀 Deep and complex gameplay
  • 😊 Rewarding when AI works

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Steep learning curve
  • 🤔 UI can be confusing
  • 📚 Tutorials can be complex
  • 💸 Some find it expensive
  • ⚠️ English-only wiki/hints

Bugs and requests

Star Traders

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Crew combat screen UI issues causing accidental input
  • Reputation/faction system bugs leading to unexpected outcomes
  • Crashes and freezes when navigating certain screens
  • Inconsistent behavior with ship component upgrades

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to customize ship colors and appearances
  • Option to command/control multiple ships as a fleet
  • More end-game content and progression systems
  • Improved UI scaling and optimization for larger screens
  • Cloud save/sync functionality across devices

Gladiabots

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • iOS version not up-to-date
  • AI logic bugs/unexpected behavior
  • Screen not fitting iPad Pro
  • Game not running on older iPads

Requested features

4 requests
  • Korean language support
  • Option to toggle FPS (30/60)
  • Add more robots
  • "Quit" confirmation button in training

In-app purchases

None

Star Traders

No in-app purchases

5 purchases

Gladiabots

One-time5
  • Hello World Pack$0.99
  • Script Pack$1.99
  • Algorithm Pack$4.99
Show 2 more
  • Automaton Pack$8.99
  • Neural Network Pack$17.99

Questions

Is Star Traders free?
Star Traders costs $6.99, with no in-app purchases.
Is Gladiabots free?
Gladiabots costs $3.99, and also offers in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Star Traders or Gladiabots?
Star Traders is rated higher. Star Traders averages 4.6 out of 5 from 673 ratings, while Gladiabots averages 4.5 from 90 ratings.
Do Star Traders or Gladiabots have ads?
Neither Star Traders nor Gladiabots shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Star Traders or Gladiabots?
Star Traders ships an update every 3 weeks, and Gladiabots every 2 weeks. Most recently, Star Traders was updated on October 25, 2026 and Gladiabots on October 25, 2026.

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